The answer to just about everything is popcorn! What is the best snack at a movie? What do you feed six kids every Sunday night for a snack? What vegetable is the most fun to plant, harvest, cook and eat? Of course, the answer is popcorn!
Growing up with five sisters, doing anything was an event, and a special one was when Dad fixed popcorn. Mom was a great cook, but Sunday night was her break and Dad’s turn to feed us. What’s easier than popcorn? When we grew our own popcorn on the farm, it was an event shucking the corn, then shelling the kernels and hoping they would all pop.
We buy Boy Scout popcorn from our great nephews and enjoy it as a special movie night treat. But now we have special popcorn to try: strawberry popcorn! My gardening friend gave us this delightful, beautiful red corn that is shaped like a big strawberry. We can just put it in a paper bag in the microwave to pop it.
Strawberry popcorn is an heirloom plant, and the botanical name is Zea Mays (‘Strawberry Corn’). You can order seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange: bit.ly/StrawberryCorn.
This colorful corn will be part of my Thanksgiving centerpiece, if we don’t pop it all! My great nieces will love the storybook, If You Take a Mouse to the Movies (Christmas Edition) by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond. The mouse loves popcorn too!
The Gardening Nana
Nancy Craig
